When the ENnie Awards were started as a little fan award 18 years ago, we had no idea we’d still be here nearly two decades later. We’re very proud of our awards ceremony! However, we are aware that it has not changed in all that time, while the world around us has. That is why, after 18 years, we feel it is time to revisit the awards program, the way it works, the tools and methods we use to run them, and bring the entire program up to date.

The ENnies are completely volunteer-driven. The ENnies staff, essentially, is the admin support for each year’s slate of elected judges. The staff doesn’t involve itself in the nomination process and does not choose any judges or any nominees; we simply provide the year’s judges with the tools and platform they need to do their job.

Our goals over the coming months are to ensure the awards are fair, inclusive, and welcoming to all, while also ensuring that staff, judges, and nominees alike feel safe and reassured that the awards are in good hands. We also want to ensure that the community, of which we are so proud to be members, is fairly represented, that each year’s judges are fair and impartial, and that we get a great range of different judges year over year.

To that end, we will be reviewing the awards structure. Nothing is decided yet; we need time to consider all options. However, you can expect to see more secure voting systems, changes to the ways the judges are nominated, and more. We will be listening very, very carefully to the community – to you – all throughout these months, and we welcome your input into the process. If you have any initial thoughts, please email the Business Manager, stacy@ennie-awards.com. We will also be posting a survey within in the next month to get your thoughts on a variety of topics.

Most importantly, the mission of the ENnie Awards hasn’t changed – to provide a fun celebration of exceptional game design, writing, art, and more. They are about making a small gesture and giving a pat on the back to those hard working creators who bring us the books and games we enjoy so much. Game companies are made up of people, and the ENnies are about those people: writers, artists, editors, graphic designers, and so many more, without whom these games wouldn’t exist, whether it’s the awesome cover an artist painted for a new hardcover book, or an innovative bit of rules design in the latest indie RPG.

Confirmed opt-in email voting systems and those which require social media integration to register a vote tends to weed out those who would purposefully disrupt the voting process. I am looking forward to what’s in store for the future of the ENnies.

I have always held the ENnies to be an exemplary form of an ‘industry award’ programme. Entries made by those who’d like to be considered, discussed by a panel of elected judges (who nominate themselves, rather than being picked by someone) to create a shortlist which is then voted on by whoever is interested enough to particpate. Compare virtually everything else in the entertainment world: Oscars, Emmys, Booker Prize, BAFTAs, etc. – all far less transparent and without public particpation.

Please do not lose this openness as you consider changes.

Disclaimer: I have had the honour of being an ENnies Judge, and have also been a completely unsuccessful competitor (at, of course, different times!).

I do hope we see a positive change. Particular individuals and their supporters have been incredibly toxic for the hobby for sometime now and It has looked like certain publishers have been creating disgusting content to just be noticed and then apply some questionable tactics to rig the vote in their favour.

First- Zak is NOT a white supremacist, harasser, or a piece of shit. This tired ass rhetoric needs to go away. Zak gives a shit about the hobby, the people in it, and how people are treated. People who jump on this bandwagon have a distorted, incomplete, or mob-mentality view of the facts and events that have transpired over eight years.

Seriously it’s time for this shit to stop.

Second- As someone who has won an ENNIE and received a few snarky toxic “love notes”/comments here and there; people need to fucking breathe.

The OSR has not hijacked the ENNIES, Reece Carter is NOT a robot/paid operative that we have inserted in to the system (although he is damned tall and an awesome person), James Raggi is sullying or destroying the hobby- especially as all evidence to the contrary.

You may not dig the OSR, you may prefer a different ruleset/aesthetic and feel- that’s totally awesome… but please stop shitting on people for liking a system/style that others do. Please stop pouting, crying wolf, or stomping your feet because LotFP/OSR/DIY stuff keeps getting nominated.

If you read the books, look at the art, see the utility and innovation in many (not all) of the products coming out of the DIY/ORS movement- it speaks for itself. This is why these books are nominated. This is why they keep winning.

Third- Does some of the processes for the ENNIES need to change- absolutely. Organizations should always strive to learn and improve themselves.

The ENNIES are cool and an important piece of our lil niche hobby- do not berate, be toxic, nasty or vicious to the people involved. These awesome volunteers do this for the same love of the hobby that we all have (hopefully) and deserve the same respect you would show anyone.

The volunteers are wonderful, no doubt about it but I think Mike Evans might have more than a vested interest in this. He and Zak have both benefited from the old system so is there any surprise they’d push back against fixing a system so many are saying is flawed?
Also, I can never be supportive of harassers. Sorry.

Neill, I don’t see how you think Mike is trolling. He’s got probably the best and most honest contribution in this discussion so far.

I have no personal stake in this; I don’t make anything, I’m not OSR (I know Mike and Zak from G+, but don’t follow Zak and he blocked me), but I think it’s ludicrous to suggest that his and other OSR products are not interesting, innovative and worthy of attention. I’m not surprised to see many wins there. In fact, I think the ENnies do a better job than most awards to be impartial and focused on content.

It’s certainly accessible to newcomers: see Daniel Fox who got two major awards. It’s hard to see how he could have rigged that, this being his first product and first time on GenCon. He promotes the hell out of it, but anyone can do that. Clearly people love it. Any newcomer or indie game that people love enough can win an award. It doesn’t seem like it’s controlled by industry insiders in any way whatsoever.

Or is that the problem? Should more awards go to Paizo and WotC? I like that the ENnies shine a big light on smaller publishers.

Poeple what the hell do you have against the guy? You cant tilt the votes and I for once voted for Zack’s book this year because I honestly think its a better work then most of the other nominated creation! How can a Jewish person be a white supremacyst in any case? It doesnt mix… I am happy I got to know the osr community because they create the most easy to use and most innovative ideas to my oppenion. Any one not liking it should demand more from paizo or wothc (play tons of pf btw)
No one can hijack public openion. They can just change it.
Leave the man alone… this fixation is wasting all of your times

“I think its not surprising that the year Harlem Unbound cleaned house all of a sudden the rules need to change.”
A good point. This change in rules for Ennie voting is just pandering to the particular company that usually wins but didn’t.
Next year guys it’ll be back to normal. No trouble makers will take your industry awards this time…